Why would the other southern European countries want to be in the EU at this point? There's not much to gain, and they're likely to also be made an example of if another financial crisis strikes.
True, but at this point joining the EU pretty much involves consenting to adopt the Euro. Only Denmark and the UK have an opt-out afaik, all the other EU countries are obliged to join
The main thing is that you can't tax by printing currency anymore which is a really easy way to levy taxes. That means you have to have an efficient taxation apparatus, tax the rich and poor equitably and be very careful with borrowing.
Greek's problem is that it isn't particularly strong in any of those and thus isn't really suited for being part of the Eurozone yet.
As it stands, keeping the 'poorer' countries in the Eurozone seems like a very bad idea. The main reason being that -unlike the USA- people in e.g. The Netherlands don't feel a connection with people from Spain and vice versa. People in the northern European countries don't even feel a connection with people in the countries close to them, even though the cultures are much closer aligned (in terms of sobriety, work-ethos, etc…)
This I think is the main difference with the USA. The USA also has richer and poorer stats, but because of the shared language, history and culture, people in both the richer and the poorer states feel like a US citizen.
Remember: "There is no way to leave the EU once you are in." Or the Euro. Or the Eurozone. Or the EEC. Or the European Continent. Well, unless you have a really big motor engine.
"Unless Germany wants you out", I guess. The terms of the deal for Greece have been pretty onerous, you lose control of your currency with no equivalent upside. Sure, there are plenty of advantages to being in the EU, but the disadvantages seem bigger.
If Germany actually wanted Greece out, they would have been kicked out 3-5 years ago. Germany desperately wants Greece in, why do you think they keep negotiating?
> The terms of the deal for Greece have been pretty onerous, you lose control of your currency with no equivalent upside.
No upside? What do you call a decade of easy access to super cheap credit? Also, these terms are not unique to Greece, no other Euro-zone country has control over it's currency.
That's easy enough to say in retrospect. The greek government actively and aggressively sought out membership, to the point of cooking the books, then eagerly availed themselves of the credit.
